Hair-teasing comb

ABSTRACT

A hair comb having a tooth base teasing sector, band or area of a skid-resistant, soft, nonabrasive, flexible, rubberlike, highly adherent reinforcing material.

United States Patent inventor Carl A. Moody- 889 Rolling Rock Road, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Hill A Hlllllllllllllllll [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,247,908 11/1917 Van Dersal 132/162 X 1,572,41 1 2/1926 Schweizer 132/162 X 1,608,581 11/1926 Caruso 132/158 X 2,792,007 5/1957 Parmer 132/162 Primary ExaminerRussell R. Kinsey Assistant Examiner-J. N. Eskovitz Attorney-Green, McCallister 8: Miller ABSTRACT: A hair comb having a tooth base teasing sector, band or area of a skid-resistant, soft, nonabrasive, flexible, rubberlike, highly adherent reinforcing material.

PATENTED BEBE? I972 i @EH lA/I/EA/TOR CARL A. MOODY H/S ATTOR/VE V5 HAlR-TEASING COMB The inventionrelates to a new and improved comb construction for teasing or fluffing hair and particularly, to a comb having a base portion or section along its teeth of a resilient or elastic nature whose surface provides a selective, nontearing, frictional-like engagement with hair strands during a teasing or back combing operation.

In the field of Cosmotology, "teasing" involves combing small portions of the hair ends toward the scalp to cause the shorter hair to mat adjacent the scalp and form a cushion or base. It is known as ratting, French lacing or roughing and flufi'rng. The purpose is to seemingly increase the volume of hair and to expand it as positioned on the human scalp or on a wig. The operation is accomplished by so-called back-combing, that is, by lifting up the hair strands and combing them backwardly from their outer ends towards the scalp, instead of the normal operation of combing from the scalp downwardly along the contour of the head.

There have been many attempts to provide combs that are more effective or suited as constructed for teasing or backcombing hair, but none have been fully satisfactory in producing a quick, easy and efficient fluffrng of the hair. A conventional type of teasing comb makes use of a metal, bone, hard rubber or resin material whose teeth are made of the same material but have some flexibility by reason of their relatively small section. Such material as used, however, has a relatively smooth, low-friction surface, and has a substantially nil frictional action with the hair. Dependence is placed on the spacing between the teeth for providing the necessary guiding action. In such a construction, alternate teeth have a shortened extent with the idea in mind that such teeth will engage the hair strands at a difierent depth to accomplish a backing-up, teasing action.

The present invention has been developed to solve the problem presented by conventional teasing combs that at best have been somewhat superficial in their approach to the actual requirements of such an operation. In evaluating the factors involved, it has been discovered that prior devices have worked on the wrong principles from the standpoint of providing a comb that has a smooth or minimized frictional engagement with portions of the hair to be teased. Actually, it has been determined that there should be a smooth or minimized frictional engagement from the standpoint of outer or longer portions that are to be initially bypassed, but that there should be a somewhat highly frictional type of engagement from the standpoint of shorter length, inner progressive layer portions of the hair strands that are to be flufi'ed or teased. In teasing hair, the practice has been to start with the hair that is of shorter length and then to proceed progressively by layering towards the outermost or longer hair strands.

A teasing operation is accomplished by moving a comb in such a manner, as to first turn, fluff or force backwardly the forward ends of a layer of hair of possibly the shortest extent and then selectively continuing the operation to tease a slightly longer layer or group of hair ends until, if desired, the full head of hair has been teased. Heretofore, using a conventional teasing comb, its inner root portions along alternate, shortened teeth have been employed as the active teasing portions thereof. However, it has not heretofore been appreciated that these portions, unlike the outer portions of the teeth which bypass outer hair groups during the teasing operation, should have a different type of surface or one which has a gripping or frictionalized but not abrasive engagement with the particular hair strands or groups that are being teased, and that the portions of the hair that are not being teased should be subjected to outer portions of the teeth that provide a substantially minimized frictional engagement from the standpoint of their contacting surfaces.

Further, it has been determined that, for optimum results, not only the root, valley or base portions of the comb between the teeth should present surfaces that adhere to the hair strands that are being teased, but that a minimum width band, sector or area along the base portions of the teeth should also have such a type of surface to maximize the effectiveness of the teasing operation. Certain criteria have to be maintained. First, the material used for providing the teasing segment or area of the comb should be elastic or flexible, was to improve and not lessen the strength of the forwardly extending separate teeth and to enable them to flex to substantially the same extent along their free, outer, shortened reaches as they would if they were not shortened and a band, area or sector of teasing material was not being used. The teasing material should have a softness of structure, but must have continuity or be unbroken, as compared to a sponge rubber or porouslike surface, and should have strength and resiliency with a frictional holding-back characteristic with respect to the hair particles, but without abrasiveness.

It has thus been an object of the invention to solve the problem which has been heretofore presented and to provide a new and improved approach to the teasing or back combing of hair, whether natural or artificial, and whether on the head of a user or mounted on a wig;

Another object has been to devise a comb construction that is based on a proper coordination of factors that have been discovered as controlling in a hair teasing operation;

Another object has been to develop a hair grooming comblike tool that will simultaneously guide and provide a smooth, minimized frictional engagement along outer reaches of its teeth and a maximized or somewhat adhesive type of engagement with hair groups along the inner reaches of its teeth;

A still further object of the invention has been to provide a unitized comb construction for progressively teasing hair which will greatly increase the speed and effectiveness of such an operation and that selectively will engage various hair groups or layers in a manner that is most conductive to a speedy back combing and teasing thereof;

These and other objects of the invention will appear to those skilled in the art from the illustrated embodiment and the claims.

In the drawings, FIG. 1 is a longitudinal side view of a hair combing tool constructed by employ the principles of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a section taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section taken alongthe line 3-3 of FIG. 1 or along the spacing between a pair of teeth of the comblike tool.

And, FIG. 4 is a fragmental perspective view illustrating another form of tool constructed in accordance with the invention.

In carrying out the invention, a rubberlike material or resin is mounted along a base area or sector or along the root portions of teeth of a comb which may be of a typical smooth, hard surface resin or rubber construction. The comb may have either a conventional one part provided with relatively widely spaced teeth and another adjoining part with more closely spaced teeth, such as illustrated in FIG. 1 or, may have all its teeth of the more closely spaced type. In either event, the invention is applied as a sector to closely spaced or adjacent teeth that are relatively fine and not to widely spaced teeth. Such material as represented in FIG. 1 by a skid-resistant sector, band or area 14 may be provided to an effective depth with respect to the full extent of the particular teeth area of the comb of not less titan about one-sixteenth of an inch and up to a maximum of about 50 percent or a half of the total length of the teeth, so as to provide a minimum depth or length of conventional tooth arrangement of at least 50 percent of the depth representing the teasing sector employed.

Further, the material used should have good surface adherence with respect to hair strands, as represented by a soft ness of about 35 plus or minus 5 durometers and, in this connection, pure latex rubber, neoprene and a synthetic silicone rubber resin have all been found to be practical for this purpose. The silicone, neoprene synthetics and natural rubber have natural surfaces thatare suitable for the utilization outlined and, as an optimum, when the material is given a socalled cloth impression finish. They also will provide excellent adherence with hard rubber portions of a comb. Slippage resistance may be enhanced by giving the resin a cloth impression finish which has the appearance of a piece of cloth pressed against the material before it is dried. However, a material in the nature of sponge or porous material is totally unsatisfactory.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, comb is shown having a longitudinally extending, U-shaped base, crown part or main body 11 of typical, somewhat heavy resin or hard rubberlike construction and as having relatively fine and closely spaced teeth 12 and relatively coarse and widely spaced teeth 13 projecting integrally from its base or crown part 11. The teeth have a somewhat stiff flexibility which is greater in the finer tooth portions 12 than the coarser portions 13. A secondary base part area sector or band 14 is interposed between the main body or base part 11 and root or valley portions of the teeth 12 to form a continuous sector or band along their longitudinal extent. This results in advancing or moving the root or valley portions of the teeth 12 forwardly of the comb from base line position b to a forward, secondary line position c of FIG. 1. On the other hand, the valley or root portions of the coarser teeth 13 may be retained along the base line a which is contiguous with and forms an extension of the base line b. The material used in the band 14 which may be termed the teasing band or sector is of a different nature than the material from which the crown or base part 11 and the teeth 12 and 13 are formed. As previously pointed out, the band 14 has the characteristic of being highly adherent with respect to the hair strands. The material of the band 14 may be adherently mounted in position by spraying, brushing or dipping the comb with or in the material while the material is in a substantially liquid form and permitting or causing it to solidify or set in place. In this connection, conventional shielding or masking means may be employed for protecting portions of the comb 10 that are not to be coated.

In FIG. 4 a modified construction of the comb 20 is illustrated. The comb 20 also has a U-shaped base or crown part 21 but is made up entirely of relatively fine and closely spaced teeth 22. Like the comb of FIG. 1, it may be of hard resin or rubberlike construction. In this comb, a longitudinal open or slot portion 23 is provided along the base part 21 and the lower or root portions of the teeth 22. The slot portion may open through side ports 23a to opposite sides of the comb. That is, side ports or passageways 23a open to the root portions of the teeth 22 and enable liquid resin or latex to be introduced to form a sector or band 24 along the base of the teeth when the material is poured or introduced into the comb from one end thereof under a suitable pressure, e.g.,- 40 lbs/square inch. Also, a two-part mold may be employed for confirming the flow of the liquid material to base or root areas of the teeth 22 to provide the band 24 which moves or advances the valley or base portions of the teeth 22 transversely forwardly from their original positions represented by the line b to the advanced positioning represented by the line 0 and thus, provide a secondary base portion for the teeth.

By way of example, a natural rubber having an elongation of 600 percent, a tensile strength of 3,400 to 4,000 lbs/square inch and a thickness-in-place of one-sixteenth of an inch has been found to be highly satisfactory in carrying out the invention. It appears, however, that the minimum thickness is about one thirty-second of an inch. In this connection, the material which forms the area band or sector 14 or 24 made up as shown, of sections between opposed side portions of the teeth 12 or 22, should completely fill the opposed spacing between adjacent teeth to provide a tough, continuous planar area or band that extends transversely from the base part 11 or 21 of the comb transversely or forwardly along the lower reaches of the teeth, so as to provide the teeth not only with advanced or forwardly positioned root portions of an adhesivelike nature, but also provide them with lower opposed substantially planar sides or a secondary base part of the same nature. The minimum depth or forward extent of the teasing band portion 14 or 24 is about one-sixteenth of an inch and, as an optimum,

. 4 will be maintained within about 25 percent of the total length of the teeth before the application of the band. The depthwise extent of the band portion or sector 14 or 24 will not exceed the forward extent of the teeth 12 or 22 from such band portion or sector or beyond the line c or 0'.

Using a teasing comb of the invention, it has been found that the operation can be accomplished much faster in a manner that is considerably less time consuming and tiring to the operator. It enables accomplishing a greater amount of teasing more efficiently and with a minimized pull on the patron s hair. It has been found effective for various types and textures of hair and will not tear the hair. One operator has indicated that it permits the setting of three wigs in about the same time as before required in setting one using a conventional teasing comb having alternate longer and shorter teeth. There is also less abuse of the hair, and it has been found suitable for teasing fine texture hair since the teasing band or seetor better retains or catches the fine hair strands and, in general, enables the hair to be easily and readily teased.

I claim:

1. In an improved hair-teasing comb device having a longitudinally extending striplike base part and a group of relatively closely spaced apart teeth that extend integrally forwardly from the base part and define root portions therebetween at the base part, wherein the base part and the teeth are of unitary one-piece construction of a relatively hard and smooth surface comb-making material and provide a substantially conventional hair comb construction, the improvement comprising: a longitudinally extending hair-teasing area defined by sections between opposed side portions of the teeth, said sections extending from the root portions of the base part along and within the confines of the teeth and defining advanced root portions for the teeth, said sections being adherently secured between the teeth and to the root portions between each pair of opposed teeth to project forwardly therealong, said sections having a minimum thickness of about one thirty-second of an inch and a minimum depthwise extent from their root portions to the root portions of the base part of about one-sixteenth of an inch, said area having a forward extent along the teeth of not greater than the length of the teeth extending forwardly from the root portions defined by said sections, and said area being of a relatively soft and nonporous, solidified-in-place, resilient, rubberlike material having the characteristics of high surface adherence without abrasiveness with respect to hair strands.

2. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, the material of said area having a diameter reading of about 3515.

3. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, said area being of a rubberlike material having an elongation of about 600 percent and a tensile strength of about 3,400 to 4,000 lbs/sq. in.

4. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, said area being of a material of the class consisting of latex, neoprene and silicone rubberlike materials.

5. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, the material of said area having exposed surface portions of a clothlike finish to provide an increased frictional engagement with hair strands.

6. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, an open end slotted portion along the base part and having ports extending therefrom into the root portions thereof, the material of said area extending along said slotted portion and through said ports into the root portions of the teeth that are defined with the base part, and the material of said area defining a secondary base portion along the teeth from which said sections extend forwardly.

7. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, the base part and the teeth being of solid hard resin or rubberlike construction, and said area being of relatively soft material of about 35:5 durometers.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Carl A. Moody Inventor(s) It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column'2, line 38, "by" should read to Column 3, line 48, "confirming" should read confining Column 4, line 47, (claim 2), "diameter" should read durometer I Signed and sealed this 25th day of April 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. I ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents DO-105M104) USCOMM-DC 60376-P69 {3 [1.5, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE I 1959 O-35G-534 

1. In an improved hair-teasing comb device having a longitudinally extending striplike base part and a group of relatively closely spaced apart teeth that extend integrally forwardly from the base part and define root portions therebetween at the base part, wherein the base part and the teeth are of unitary one-piece construction of a relatively hard and smooth surface comb-making material and provide a substantially conventional hair comb construction, the improvement comprising: a longitudinally extending hair-teasing area defined by sections between opposed side portions of the teeth, said sections extending from the root portions of the base part along and within the confines of the teeth and defining advanced root portions for the teeth, said sections being adherently secured between the teeth and to the root portions between each pair of opposed teeth to project forwardly therealong, said sections having a minimum thickness of about one thirty-second of an inch and a minimum depthwise extent from their root portions to the root portions of the base part of about one-sixteenth of an inch, said area having a forward extent along the teeth of not greater than the length of the teeth extending forwardly from the root portions defined by said sEctions, and said area being of a relatively soft and nonporous, solidified-in-place, resilient, rubberlike material having the characteristics of high surface adherence without abrasiveness with respect to hair strands.
 2. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, the material of said area having a diameter reading of about 35 + or -
 5. 3. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, said area being of a rubberlike material having an elongation of about 600 percent and a tensile strength of about 3,400 to 4,000 lbs./sq. in.
 4. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, said area being of a material of the class consisting of latex, neoprene and silicone rubberlike materials.
 5. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, the material of said area having exposed surface portions of a clothlike finish to provide an increased frictional engagement with hair strands.
 6. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, an open end slotted portion along the base part and having ports extending therefrom into the root portions thereof, the material of said area extending along said slotted portion and through said ports into the root portions of the teeth that are defined with the base part, and the material of said area defining a secondary base portion along the teeth from which said sections extend forwardly.
 7. In a hair-teasing comb as defined in claim 1, the base part and the teeth being of solid hard resin or rubberlike construction, and said area being of relatively soft material of about 35 + or - 5 durometers. 